Editor's note: This article appeared in the May 28, 2008, edition of Quirk's e-newsletter.
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Seventy-two percent of Americans said they expected to buy a Mother's Day gift and 58 percent said they will buy a Father's Day gift this year, but the median amount spent on gifts for each parent was the same: $44, according to a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, commissioned by Westlake Village, Calif., pricing information company PriceRunner.com and executed by Amplitude Research, Boca Raton, Fla.
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Although the proportion that expected to buy a Mother's Day gift was similar among females (72 percent) and males (71 percent), the number expecting to buy a Father's Day gift was noticeably higher among females (67 percent vs. 49 percent of males). This held true not only for the total sample, but also within different age groups.
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Of respondents who planned on buying gifts for Mother's Day, 37.7 percent said they planned to spend between $25 and $49, while 21 percent said they planned to purchase a Mother's Day gift in the range of $50 to $74. Just over 19 percent planned to buy a gift that costs between $10 and $24, and 12 percent said they planned to spend $100 or more. Nine percent responded that they intended to shell out between $75 and $99 for a Mother's Day gift.
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Of respondents who plan to purchase Father's Day gifts, 39.6 percent said they plan to spend between $25 and $49; 21.6 percent said they would buy a gift ranging in cost from $50 to $74; a little over 17 percent said they would be purchasing a gift costing between $10 and $24; 10 percent said they would spend $100 or more; and just over 9 percent said they plan to spend between $75 and $99.